jzwu

After owning my 2002 sc430 all stock for 6 months, I am a little unsatisfied with how the car drives and handles in stock setting: soft suspension and heavy wheels (pie dish wheels at 27+ lbs each). The car floats like a boat and doesn't want to change direction willingly.

So I just ordered the TTE sport springs from Sewell and a set of light wheels (21.2 lbs each) from tirerack.

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Wheel..._22&sort=Brand

The suspension/wheels will be changed from soft + heavy to firm/1 inch lower + light. I am curious to see what improvements this will make.

cyberlexus

iTrader: (2)

You should replace the runflats too because they are heavy. Maybe you did already?

jzwu

Yeah, did that already.

Pnuge88

iTrader: (1)

Should have went with the megan ez coilovers.

jzwu

I was thinking about the Megans but didn't want to go too far from stock.

Today the new wheels came in and I got them installed. So far after a few miles I would say the steering response is better and the car feels lighter. Braking is much easier too.

The ride is a mixed bag. I have more road feel but the ride is little more bumpy. I think the OEM heavy wheels filtered out lots of small road imperfections. However, for big road bumps lighter wheels can soak up better than the OEM hogs.

Overall, the OEM generally provides a smoother ride. The lighter wheels give more road feel with a bumpier ride but do well with larger road irregularities. I like the new setup over the stock.

irokdastar

Did you do the spring swap? I did mine and it the ride is much better. Also look into upgrading your sway bar bushings to poly urthane. It helped out my ride with stock wheels

jzwu

Still waiting for the TTE springs from Sewell.

Now the new wheels (18x8.5" offset +38 vs. the OEM wheel 18x8" offset +45) push outward quite a bit and the wheel fender gap looks more obvious. A 1" drop is definitely needed.